Dragon Trapper
by Poetic Devices
Summary: A small selection of one-shots centering around Eret, son of Eret, from Httyd 2 (disclaimer: all rights go to Dreamworks for said film).
1. Burns

_**A/N**_: Drago drabble, because it seems there have been very few of them. Happens after a dragon raid. (**Spoilers**) Just my take on how the whole Eret-Drago thing went, which made Eret as fearful of his employer as he is now.

* * *

"So…" the gruff, terrifying voice warbled through the ship's dark cabin, which was lit only by the small circle of hot coals burning in a corner to heat the place. The coals rested on a bed of shed dragon scales, protecting the wooden cabin from catching fire. "Have you filled you quota for the day, dare I ask?"

The stubby little man, a dragon trapper employed to the man in front of him, nodded carefully and squeaked out a "Mhmm. Y-yes sir. More, actually. Thirty-one from my ship, including two monstrous nightmares."

"By more, you only mean one, single dragon then. The quota is thirty. You surpassed it by just one. You're lucky, and if it had been any less I may have gotten angry." The growling sound of the rugged man's voice made the stubby one in front of him quake in his boots. The sight caused a horrible grin to contort the scarred face that was half-hidden in the darkness. "But, you filled the quota. Dismissed."

"Y-yes master—-"

"Get. Out."

The little man scurried out of the cabin and didn't look back.

"Next" the rugged man hissed towards the door. It creaked open, and in walked a taller man, very muscled, lightly tanned, and with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Eret, son of Eret, the most prodigious dragon trapper known to the rest of his kind. His employer in the shadows leered. A dark chuckle escaped his throat. "Ahhhh, good to know I have at least one man I can count on in times like this."

The young man kept his eyes to the ground, but it went unnoticed.

"So, Eret" continued the scarred, rough-voiced figure standing casually at the other end of the darkened cabin. "How many dragons have you caught today? I suspect you passed the quota by at _least_ ten, if we're talking a normal day. How many do you have for me? Forty? Fifty, perhaps?"

The young man in front of him still did not look up.

"Not… not exactly, master Drago, sir."

The sinister man's head snapped up, fully facing the trapper now. The bed of coals in the corner seemed to glow a little redder. "Would you care to… _elaborate_? What does that mean, 'not exactly?'" He glared across the cabin.

"It m-means… I did not fill the quota, sir." The words were forced out, not wanting to be said aloud. "I-I'm sorry, but the dragons have been scarce as of late and—-"

"_SCARCE_?" The other man interjected. "I did not ask about scarcity, trapper! Look at the man who was in here before you! A cowardly little thing, and _he_ still managed to managed to reach above today's quota!"

The man in front of him tried not to let himself shiver and shake. "I know, but I can do better, I-I promise!" the look on Eret's face was desperate, pleading. Drago's voice softened. So much so that it was only a whisper. A very dangerous whisper, only audible in a cabin such as the one they were in right now.

"Oh, trust me, I know you can do better. We will fix this, you will see. I will give you one more chance… to prove I can still count on you, Eret, son of Eret."

Eret's expression became relieved as he replied enthusiastically, "Oh, master, thank you, I won't fail you—"

"I _know_ you won't" Drago harshly interrupted, "because I have something to give you. As a reminder to keep with you, so you can be sure you will never fail me again. _Ever_." During his dark speech, Dragon was walking over to the bed of coals and slowly, slowly, reached down into the glowing embers. Eret watched nervously from where he stood, shifting from foot to foot. Out of the coals, Drago lifted a pair of tongs with a twisted piece of metal attached to the end, a sort of crest-like design, the symbol of Drago and his trappers. The metal glowed bright and hot, and Drago watched with malevolence as the young trapper's face drained of all color.

"M-master?" Eret stammered, backing away towards the cabin door. Drago, in turn, took a step towards him.

"Do not worry. This won't hurt… in a week. Or more. But just remember this: You are not to fail Dragon Bludvist ever again."

* * *

Just outside Drago's ship, both trappers and dragons winced at the bloodcurdling sound of pained shrieks, which echoed from the ship's deepest cabin. No one fails Drago Bludvist.


	2. Dragon Trapper

**_A/N_**: Drabble pre-httyd 1, during Hiccup's phase of wanting to be a dragon-killer (instead of the other way around). Semi-AU where Hiccup and Eret met before the second movie's events. Enjoy!

* * *

It was trading week. The ships were coming in to dock from various places, there to trade goods (mostly weapons) with Berk. It only happened once every two or three months, and it was _always_ a big deal.

Once again, one of these trading weeks began on the little island, and no one enjoyed seeing the boats arrive more than Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the fourteen-year-old heir to chief Stoick the Vast. Hiccup absolutely loved learning about all the new technological innovations that were growing in other parts of the world, hearing stores from the traders as they exchanged goods with the Berkians. This time, one of the arrivals brought along more than just trading goods.

This time, there came along on a less familiar ship, one from an island famous for its dragon trappers. Hiccup was especially intrigued by one of the people who had arrived on this ship: a young man that, maybe a few years older than Hiccup, who called himself Eret, "son of Eret." It was on the third day that Eret's ship was docked that Hiccup finally bucked up enough courage to talk to the young man. Nearing the small campfire in the center of the village where many of the traders were gathered around, Hiccup found the trader he was looking for. This man could help him with his dragon-killing - or lack thereof.

"Heyyyy.." well _that_ was an awkward way to start an introduction.

"Oh… hey there, I recognize you!" the young man chimed in, turning to face Hiccup and saving him from making his presence even more awkward. "You're the chief's son, right? I'm Eret. Son of Eret. I'm going to be a dragon trapper you know, but I'm sure that's old news to you. All the rest of my people are trappers. A dying art, if I do say so myself. Did you come to join in the conversation?"

"Erm…" Hiccup tried to form the right sentence in his mind. "Well, actually, I was… sort of hoping I could ask about talking with you later. You see… I'm interested in, well, what you guys do. Er, trapping, I mean. I'm kind of in the smithing business, I've been trying my hand at a few of my own dragon traps, and…. I wanted to know if I could get a real trapper's perspective. And preferably one who was more my age, I guess."

The young man's eyebrows were raised, possibly from being weirded out by the question, but also (maybe) because he was actually rather interested. With a slight nod, he answered the scrawny Viking who stood before him, "All right, could we say… noon-ish, tomorrow at your forge? I'd be interested in seeing some original trap designs, I'm afraid ours are a bit… dated."

Hiccup could barely stammer out his word of thanks before he forced out a polite "goodbye" and rushed back to the forge, preparing to show off the best traps he had made.

* * *

"Hmm… Interesting. And the claw-shaped trap there?" Eret was staring around the forge, a glow of obvious admiration on his face. Hiccup was more than eager to answer all the questions he had.

"That one's for smaller dragons. I'll be painting it to have it blend in better with a forest background, and it takes just the slightest touch to set it off —- so I _wouldn't_ stick your hand right near it if I were you."

Eret quickly yanked his hand back, worried it might get snapped off by the jagged metal trap. "Ah, got it. And what about that bola launcher mechanism there? Does it work?"

"Oh, that! I'm actually not finished with it. You see, once I fix this little calibration issue and add in a new spring, the bolas can be launched as high as a hundred feet in the air, give or take! Er, sorry, maybe I sound too excited, I guess to you it might be a little boring but—"

"Boring?!" Eret interrupted. "It's genius! They're all genius, actually. I wish my folks could see this, oh, they would love it! …Unfortunately, my people didn't come here for new traps. They came here for animal hides, we've been in pretty short supply. The dragons have become more ravenous in our area lately. We're not sure why, but it's gotten pretty serious. I wish they'd at least have a look, though, these designs are superb! Well anyway, thank you so much, Hiccup, it's been a pleasure looking around the forge and listening to all of these amazing ideas. I'm sure you'll make a fine dragon killer — You know, once you grow into all… this." He waved a hand around at the skinny young boy.

"Uh… you just gestured to all of me" Hiccup muttered. It didn't matter, really. He had heard it all before. But even so, Eret's words gave him some confidence in himself.

* * *

Six years later, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, age twenty, was looking for the source of something that had been visible from miles away. A serious amount of destruction, in the form of an enormous mountain of icy spikes. Astrid followed close behind her boyfriend on her dragon, the two of them sailing over the mass of ice in search of whatever had done this. It was just minutes later that they found themselves in the presence of a small group of men - dragon trappers - who were attempting to shoot them down the minute they were visible.

"Ahh, it seems we've found the people who've wrecked our ship, men!" a voice echoed through the icy spines. It was oddly familiar to Hiccup.

"Shoot 'em down, they've got dragons!… By the gods… Is that what I think it is? Ey, men! We've found ourselves a night fury!"

Hiccup and Astrid landed in front of the little group, weapons drawn, their dragons in their protective stances, ready to defend their riders. Hiccup's eyes widened when he saw the leader of the trapper group.

"Well well, looks like you two have caused enough trouble for us. My name is Eret, son of Eret, and I'm afraid your dragons are coming with me."

Hiccup should have known there would be repercussions. He had almost forgotten about the young man who had visited Berk years ago, the one who wanted to be a dragon trapper. Thank the gods the man hadn't taken on of _his_ inventions with him after his first visit to Berk! They would probably be even worse off than they were now. But how could he have let that event slip through his head? Now, Hiccup had one more problem to deal with.


	3. Oldie

**_A/N_**

Eret is encouraged to help out and learn a few things at the training academy, and he's pretty much the oldest one of the group. He also discovers that kids can be funny - in some very odd ways.

Again, enjoy!

_**:::/:::**_

* * *

"So, Eret, here it is! Berk's old Training Academy. Nice, huh?"

Eret looked around, following Hiccup's hand as the young chief motioned around the spacious arena. The former trapper took it all in. It _was_, admittedly, an impressive sight, with the dome of iron bars twisting above their heads and the great wooden doors looming on the other end of the ring. A few dragons slunk around the sides of the arena, surveying the clusters of young students waiting for their training teacher to tell them what they were supposed to do. Off to the side, fenced of from the rest of the academy, was a little flock of baby dragons. Now _there_ was something Eret didn't get to see everyday. Every colorful face could be seen through the wires of the pen. These would be the dragons that the new students would be working with today.

Hiccup followed Eret's line of vision to the pens. "Yeah, I'm going to be teaching the kids some handling techniques today, I'll be keeping it simple. I've got a younger class this time around. Would you like to help me out?"

Eret looked taken aback. "W-would _I_ like to help? You mean, with training?"

Hiccup nodded encouragingly. "It's nothing major, you'd only be helping me out for things like controlling the babies in case they get out of hand, just calming them down and also keeping the students in order. What do you say?"

Just as Eret was about to open his mouth and answer, a little boy, probably eleven or twelve, rushed up to the two men at the entrance of the academy.

"Hi mister Haddock!"

"Hey Hrith, what're you-"

"Who's he?" The boy pointed at Eret.

Hiccup nudged the other man gently. "This is Eret, he's going to be helping me out during class today. Sound good to you?" He looked expectantly down at the young student.

"You look really old" the boy commented, aiming his remark at the man next to the chief. "How old are you? Are you like, mister Haddock's age?"

Hiccup laughed, joining in the one-sided conversation. "Hey, c'mon Hrith, I already told you that you could call me Hiccup."

The young boy stared back up at his training teacher. With the expression of a very serious twelve-year-old, the boy said dutifully, "Okay mister Haddock."

Hiccup held a hand to his forehead, shaking it slowly back and forth. "Yeah, sure, that... that works too." Little Hrith didn't seem to care too much about how this conversation was going and, with a light shrug of his shoulders, he wandered off to see what his friends were doing. Hiccup, on the other hand, made a comment that he was going to go check on something, and left Eret standing there amongst the group of small, restless, very loud children. Okay then.

Maybe he should introduce himself? Surely these children were friendly, right? This couldn't be any more difficult than trapping a baby dragon, really... Right?

Eret cleared his throat. The cacophony in front of him ceased. Every pair of small, intelligent eyes was on this big, muscled man with the tattoo on his chin and the knife in his belt.

"Erm... hi" he began, waving a big hand in the air. Some of the kids leaned towards eachother and began whispering. A few others only stared. One little girl sporting a pair of plaited, honey-colored pigtails walked boldly up to this towering man and looked him straight in the eye. For a solid minute, all she did was stare like that at Eret, who had absolutely no idea what to do in this kind of situation. Would she attack? Was this some sort of pre-fight technique that was meant to intimidate the opponent? Eret hadn't been around many little kids in a very, very long time. And he had no clue how to react when the girl, instead on pouncing on him and clawing his eyes out, asked in a rather high (and kind of adorable) voice,

"Have you ever killed anyone?" Her eyes were wide and bright, all curiosity. No fear. No anger. No intention of attack. Eret's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Uhm, nnnno..." he answered carefully. "Why do you ask?"

"'Cause you look like you might have." Why was she asking him this? He'd never killed _anyone_! That wasn't the kind of person he was, was this girl mistaking him for Drago Bludvist?

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" Eret crossed his arms, expressing just as much attitude as the little girl in front of him was. He may have been the taller of the two, and much stronger, but this kid was standing her ground like a bloody war hero facing down her opponent.

"Your face is weird. You have blue stuff on your chin, and your arm muscles are really big. I think you look like you could've killed someone."

"Uh, well, I haven't, so there's no need to worry about it."

"I wasn't worried. I only said you _look_ like you killed someone. I never said you _did_.

"O...kay?"

Out of nowhere, a hand patted Eret on the shoulder, and Eret turned to see his friend Hiccup chuckling back at him as the little girl scurried off to go see the nadder babies on the other side of the academy.

"Don't take it too personally, they're little kids." The young chief rolled his eyes, before adding, "_Viking_ kids, so of course their sense of humor's... well, you know."

Eret only grinned back. "Are you kidding? They're great! Sometimes I wish I was still little. And who knows? Maybe it's better to think like a kid for this kind of thing, you know?" He chuckled. "But I guess I'm just an oldie to these guys, huh?"

Hiccup surveyed the group of children in front of them. "Eh, I think they'll warm up to you in no time."


End file.
